


Arts & Crafts

by Broken_Clover



Category: Guilty Gear
Genre: Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, Mentions of Baiken, Origami
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 07:24:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16970286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_Clover/pseuds/Broken_Clover
Summary: Chipp teaches Answer how to make origami





	Arts & Crafts

**Author's Note:**

> I banged this out while working on three other projects. I am a mess. Hope you enjoy!

Chipp Zanuff is a strange, strange man. Answer is already well aware of that. Still, when he returns from a meeting to find his boss-slash-maybe-partner surrounded on all sides by a rainbow of construction paper, even he has to pause for a moment and try to figure out what the _heck_ is going on here.

“Hiya, An!” Chipp, despite the messy environment, is his usual jovial self. He currently has a piece of paper clutched between his hands, bent and twisted.

Despite his better judgement, he forgoes any subtlety. “Boss, what on earth are you doing?”

“Origami!”

That answer does the exact opposite of what Answer had hoped- that being he is now even more confused than he was before. The second question comes out just as blunt and inelegantly as the last. 

“What.”

Somehow, Chipp seems to find it amusing. He laughs, motioning for the other man to approach and sit down next to him.

“Origami.” He says again. “Baiken-neechan taught it to me.”

Answer obliges to his wishes, kneeling down on the floor. “But what exactly is ‘origami?’” In all of his mental files, there’s nothing by that name. Nothing even close to similar.

“It’s like…folding paper, basically.” As Chipp speaks, he twists the red sheet around some more, seemingly randomly. “You take a piece of paper and fold it up a bunch of times, and then it looks like stuff!”

A simple and crude explanation, but Answer expects that from him by now. At the same time, he can’t deny that he’s curious. “What sort of, erm….’stuff’ do you make?”

“There’s a lot! I don’t know all of them, Baiken only taught me a few. I was gonna ask for more when I saw her again, but then she tried to stab me, so I guess she was busy.”

‘Busy.’ In his mind’s eye Answer can already make out the image of a sullen, one-eyed samurai sitting calmly among the foliage, the tranquility of the moment suddenly broken by the cracking and snapping of branches, intermixed with eager, too-loud cries of _‘neechan, neechan!’_ that heralded one of her major sources of annoyance.

It’s not an image he shares with Chipp. “What are you making right now?”

The paper is folded over a few more times before he replies. “A crane. They’re tricky, but I’ve practiced them a lot!”

With a proud smile, Chipp holds up a somewhat lopsided, mangled rendition of a bird in folded green paper. “Ta-da!”

“That’s…interesting.” It’s the only word that comes to mind. He has no intention of being rude, but he’s not entirely sure what to make of little paper…things. It does resemble a bird, in a cursory way. All the cranes Answer has seen before have longer necks. And…legs, among other features.

The asymmetrical bird was placed on the floor. “Cool, right? You wanna try it?”

In actuality, Answer would much rather deal with business. It is his job, after all. But Chipp has such a big, goofy, eager smile on his face, and Answer can’t resist.

“I suppose. How do I make a bird?”

“Ehh, we’ll work up to that. I’ve got something much simpler that’s great to start with!”

He wants to feel patronized- at the risk of sounding pompous, he _is_ a very intelligent man- but he knows it’s just Chipp’s way of trying to help out. He’s trying to teach him, and doesn’t want him to get annoyed and discouraged from the get-go.

“Fair enough.” He voices aloud. “What am I making?”

Instead of a response, Chipp merely offers a conspiratorial wink. “It’ll be a surprise~!”

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Answer merely reaches for a piece of red paper. In hindsight, he realizes, it isn’t construction paper as he’d thought. Instead, it’s thinner, and the underside is white.

“So how do I fold it?”

“Ah-ah-ah! Gotta write on it first.” A thick black marker is thrust under his nose.

“Write on it? Why? You didn’t write on the bird.”

“Yeah, but this one’s special!” Chipp pulls out a second marker and starts scribbling on his piece of blue paper. “On the colorful side, write a word or the name of something or someone that’s really important to you!”

Answer thinks in silence. “I see. I presume this is some sort of talisman, then?”

“Sorta! Be careful not to write too far to the side, it’ll get all folded up!”

A talisman. What an interesting prospect. For a moment, he tries to decide what to write. There are so many options. _‘Order,’ ‘organization,’ ‘Jiraiya,’ ‘good health.’_ If he so wishes, he could even write his own name. In the end, though, he stifles a bit of embarrassment as he writes down _‘Chipp’_ in his smooth, almost-calligraphic handwriting. He wants the nation to prosper, and to do so, they need their leader. Besides, he has many things to thank the man for. It only seems polite.

“Alright, I’ve written it down. Now what?” He hides the paper from sight, and hides a blush. Who knows what sort of things Chipp would say if he saw either.

“Okay, let’s get started! First you gotta flip the paper upside-down. Fold it in half diagonally, then do it again the other way and put it flat- yeah, perfect!”

There’s something inexplicably calming about it. He folds the top to the center, and the bottom to the top. As subtly as he can manage, Answer sneaks a look at the colored side, making sure the curving letters aren’t being cut off in the process.

“Almost done!” Chipp says, even though they’ve barely started. “Take the flaps on the side and fold them into the center. After that, we flip it over-”

This has to be a joke. Chipp is playing a joke on him. Maybe it’s supposed to be a crude rendition of a hovership, or some bizarre Japanese charm he’s unfamiliar with. The paper’s color doesn’t exactly help much.

“Looking good!” Chipp’s expression betrays no hints of trickery. “Lastly, fold the top and side corners back so they aren’t all pointy. And congrats, you’re done! You just made your first origami!”

Answer is finding it more and more difficult to remain calm. Still, he tries to express his emotions calmly. “Is that _all_ there is to it?”

“Uh-huh! Like I said, plain and easy! What’cha think?”

He pauses to suck in a quiet, nervous breath. “It’s strange, boss, but I suppose it’s good to learn new things. If I may, can I see yours…?"

Within that split second, he catches sight of an impish glint in Chipp’s deep red eyes. It’s too late for him to go back, though, and Chipp holds out his folded-up, navy-blue heart.

 _‘Answer’_ is spelled across the front, in sloppy black letters. The man is already the color of his scarf by the time Chipp pounces on him for a kiss.


End file.
